CIVIL SOCIETY: 276 PRACTICES
Mission ANTHROPOS is a Greek nonprofit, Non Governmental Organisation, founded in 2010 with the aim to provide free and without discrimination medical support to vulnerable people, who do not have access to the NHS.
Read more: www.missionanthropos.com
The purpose of the pilot program “Caring for the Elderly” was to support the health of the elderly by providing primary healthcare to 112 elderly people residing in 4 non-profit nursing homes for the elderly at the Attica region. The program covered the medical needs of the elderly and provided medical equipment and consumables to the nursing homes, necessary for the smooth function of the later. The outcomes of the program have been valuable for the planning of further targeted actions. The purpose of the pilot program “Caring for the Elderly” was to support the health of the elderly by providing primary healthcare to 112 elderly people residing in 4 non-profit nursing homes for the elderly at the Attica region. The program covered the medical needs of the elderly and provided medical equipment and consumables to the nursing homes, necessary for the smooth function of the later. The outcomes of the program have been valuable for the planning of further targeted actions.
Elderly people residing in 4 non-profit nursing homes for the elderly at the Attica region.
The duration of the program was 12 months (January to December 2018)
The conception and planning of the program was triggered by the increase of the ageing population in our country and the broader marginalization of the elderly combined with the adverse socioeconomic situation. It focused on the special medical needs of 112 elderly people residing in 4 nursing homes for the elderly in Attica since there is little state support and less interest for this target group on behalf of the Civil Society compared to the interest shown for other vulnerable groups.
The need for health care support for the elderly in nursing homes was made clear after search conducted in a large number of nursing homes in Attica. The medical and pharmaceutical needs of this target group are hardly covered because of absence of social security, impoverishment, difficulty of the elderly in visiting health care centers due mainly to understaffing of the nursing homes and absence or incapacity of family environment, medical condition of the elderly and due to the low priority given to the specific group by the National Emergency Aid Centre.
In detail, the program offered the following:
General diagnostic tests to the elderly in order to gauge their health condition at the time the program began.
Clinical examination and report on the needs of the elderly by general practitioner and cardiologist in the nursing homes.
Specialized doctors such as orthopedic, neurologist, urologist, dermatologist, surgeon etc., paid visit to the nursing homes and examined the beneficiaries according to their special needs after the clinical examination.
Updated pharmaceutical treatment or therapeutic intervention and coverage of the cost of medical and pharmaceutical needs deemed necessary for the rehabilitation, the improvement or the maintenance of the health of the elderly after the above medical examination.
Vaccines such as pneumococcal and anti-influenza vaccines where needed.
Re-assessment of the health condition of the beneficiaries in the end of the program via diagnostic tests.
Coverage of the cost of medical equipment and consumables of the nursing homes.
During the implementation of the program it came to our attention that the elderly in the nursing homes have little or no communication and companionship with people other than their fellow residents due to absence of family environment or inability of their relatives to visit them. They suffer from or they are prone to depression and the joy of life has been lost.
In an effort to combat their loneliness, we brought the elderly in contact with children. Nine students of the second grade of a close-by high school kept company to the elderly persons residing in one of the 4 nursing homes by engaging them in handcrafts, playing board games, and chatting for a period of six months every second Saturday each month. This action was named “Keeping company to Grandpa and Grandma”.
Through the individualized medical care the program provided to the beneficiaries, their medical needs were met and in many cases the chronic pain has been addressed. Moreover, the elderly felt safe and cared for, due to the personalized medical visits of the physicians of different specialization.
In detail, throughout the program the following were conducted:
Medical visits to all 112 beneficiaries by cardiologist, general practitioner, ophthalmologist and otolaryngologist
193 blood tests according to medical indication
Medical visits and assessment by orthopedic, urologist, dermatologist, surgeon and neurologist.
5 surgical interventions
166 medical diagnostic examinations
And the following were purchased:
32 anti-influenza and pneumococcal vaccines
4 hearing aids
60 Anti- Decubitus Air Mattresses
25 safety belts for wheelchairs
9 shower wheelchairs
8 nebulizers
5 medical partition screens
4 IV stands
3 oxygen concentrators
2 hospital beds
2 foldable stretchers with straps
1 lifting module with 2 slings
1 examination bed
790 incontinence diapers
320 single-use undersheets
Through the above the program secured a higher quality and decent living for the elderly beneficiaries residing in the 4 nursing homes.
The program was implemented in 4 nursing homes in Attica (Kallithea, Moschato, Nea Ionia, Nea Philadelphia) and in Henry Dunant Hospital Center.
The program was implemented in collaboration with Henry Dunant Hospital Center which in the context of its CSR offered for free the following:
a) paramedical staff that conducted the blood collections for the necessary blood tests.
b) specialized physicians such as dermatologist, orthopedic, neurologist etc. that paid visits to the nursing homes, examined and conducted further medical actions to the elderly when needed.
c) diagnostic and medical examinations and use of ambulance at preferential price.
All employees of the bodies involved cooperated for the smooth implementation of the program. The medical, paramedical and administrative personnel of the Henry Dunant Hospital Center, the medical, paramedical and administrative personnel of the 4 nursing homes for the elderly, the project manager and the project coordinator of the organization Mission ANTHROPOS.
The benefits for the organization are the following:
